DRAMA CLUB: Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo Episode 4 (1/4)

Hear ye, hear ye! The Drama Club is now in session! In the DramaFever Drama Club, reviewers from around the world discuss a new and exciting series. For our first Drama Club, our writers will be talking about Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo. We're picking up with the most recent episode and will be continuing every week.We're very happy to welcome our first three members: Rosie from Shine A Light Rose, Cherry from J Drama Reviews, and Heisui from My Drama Tea. These responses may contain spoilers, so you might want to watch the episode first.Take it away, Rosie!--AileenDRAMA CLUB: Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo Episode 4
Dear Cherry and Heisui,
First of all, does anyone else just envision puppies, puppies and puppies galore when they watch this drama? Everyone’s so cute, especially the girl! I have to admit that my classification for puppy dog cuteness is usually reserved for sweet and adorable boys, but Honoka Miki’s Kotoko Aihara wins the award this time. She’s completely charmed me. So far, we’ve had four weeks of adorable entertainment. The fascination is obvious. What girl doesn’t at some point in her young life imagine what it would be like to live with the crush of her dreams, in his house, charming his parents, imagining newly-wedded bliss, washing the dishes? But does Naoki like her? A better question would be: when will he deliver this ‘mischievous kiss’?

With these questions in mind, we begin episode 4 or, as I like to call it, “Irie Naoki vs. the Charm… and Fate.” The plotline is mainly about our leading man’s college testing woes. Naoki declares he doesn’t want to go to college, and so fate (Aihara) steps in to give him a little bit of a push. Only the good luck charm she pins to his bag is apparently a bad luck ‘death power’ charm.
Round 1: Naoki wakes up with a cold, and instinctively takes Aihara’s drowsiness-inducing medication.
Round 2: The charm gets stuck in the elevator, and he is almost late to testing.
Round 3: The charm drops to the floor, and upon retrieving it, Naoki falls down the stairs.
Round 4: He is late to testing, starts to get sleepy, and all of his pencils are broken.

To be honest, I think this episode was a tiny bit lacking in shape and flow. With all the focus placed on Naoki’s adventures with the charm, and the ‘will he or won’t he pass the exams’ emphasis, the rest of the characters lost out. I missed having more scenes with the Irie Family, and there was almost nothing involving Kotoko’s trio of male followers (aka the Marx Brothers). Instead, it’s all about Naoki. The camera follows very slowly on Naoki’s every movement, and the guy already moves like a sloth – albeit a pretty sloth – but even the elevator scene was excruciatingly slow. We all knew something would happen to the charm, and as reassuring as it is to see Naoki so desperate to retrieve Aihara’s handmade gift, did nobody think of using scissors? A knife? Anything?
Scenes I would’ve enjoyed seeing had they been shot: Naoki’s being lectured by the station master for supposedly playing around with the elevator, or an infirmary scene being treated for his busted leg and cheek. I just know his reactions would’ve been hilarious, but instead we just get a glimpse of his broken pencil set. Mischievous Kiss directors, you missed out. Next time, less pencils please, and more face time.

At least Aihara gets some time to be cute, as she so expertly stalks Naoki on the way to Tokyo University. Maybe in future she should get some tips from her friends? According to Dramaland rules, seems to me like all you need is a leaf, some bushes, and a funny hat. Props to her for attempting to make a chocolate Valentine’s heart, though I held out no hope it would taste good. How does even her melted chocolate taste so bad? I bet she burnt it in the pot… I shouldn’t laugh. I’ve done the same thing.
By the way, can I just ignore the ending fiasco with having appendicitis (and not needing surgery) and then Aihara running away from home? It ruins my concentration to think about it. Where on earth does she think she’s going to live? Doesn’t her dad still live at home? Is she just going to wander the streets until she finds a cardboard box to live in, or until Irie-kun comes to rescue her? Was he really out just walking? Answer me this if you can.
Rosie